


His Majesty's Man

by hearteating



Category: Winter of Ice and Iron - Rachel Neumeier
Genre: Knifeplay, M/M, Post-Canon, Power Dynamics, Rough Sex, Submission, Trust Kink, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 08:30:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16678126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearteating/pseuds/hearteating
Summary: Innisth has forgiven Verè Deconniy for disobeying orders. So why does it seem the captain still wants something?





	His Majesty's Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sigaloenta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sigaloenta/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide! I love this book, and was really happy to see someone request it. I hope you enjoy!

Everywhere he went, Decconiy was, following him with wounded, hopeful eyes. It made Innisth's skin itch to be watched so. He wanted to strike Decconiy, to tell him to stop, to put out his eyes so he could not look at Innisth like that.

In the end, he did none of those things.

–

“I hear you sent Captain Deconniy to ride the borders,” Kehera said. She sat by the fire, reading a letter from her brother. “That was cruel.”

“I am a cruel man,” responded Innisth. He could feel the sharp edges of his irritation soften in the presence of his lady wife, though nothing would cause it to disappear entirely.

Kehera looked at him.

“No, you are not.” She sighed. “You are capable of cruelty, and sometimes yield to it when you should not, but you are not, at your heart, a cruel man, Innisth Eänetaì.”

“And what would you have me do?” Innisth scowled. “I have forgiven him for disobeying orders, as he chose correctly. When he did not seem to understand I had not lost faith in him, and assurances would not satisfy, I ordered him to the most menial of jobs, that he might perceive them as punishment and let me be. Neither clemency nor cruelty seems to dissuade him; he persists in acting like a dog seeking forgiveness. It does not become him, and it irritates me to see.”

“Well, I believe he will certainly see your orders as further punishment, but this will not satisfy him either.” Kehera poked at the fire.

“And what would?” Frustration bled into Innisth's voice, that he could not solve such a simple problem for one of his own.

“You know what would satisfy him,” replied Kehera. This time, her eyes were sharp as she looked at him. He looked away.

“The captain has already made clear he is uninterested in such things,” said Innisth stiffly. Kehera sighed again, as if his stubbornness pained her.

“Desires change, Innisth. Surely you know that.” She paused, and when he said nothing, she shook her head. “Ask Caèr, then, if you will not believe me. Perhaps you will trust his judgment in such matters.”

He knew her well enough by now to know she was not truly mad at him, merely aggrieved at what she believed to be willful hard-headedness. Nevertheless, he kissed her forehead as he moved past her.

“I respect your judgment in all matters,” he said. “And I will speak with Caèr.”

–

Innisth only half listened as Captain Deconniy gave his report; there was nothing in there he did not already know. 

“Thank you, Captain,” he said, when Deconniy was done. “There is one other matter I wish to discuss with you.”

“Majesty?” Deconniy, if possible, stood even straighter. Now Innisth was looking for it, he could see the ardent tinge to his captain's desperation. So Kehera and Caèr were right after all, that Deconniy did not only wish to erase any doubts about where his loyalties lay.

“My wife tells me you wish to take her place in my bed.” Innisth generally preferred subtlety to exaggeration, but in this case he felt it was worth it to see how Deconniy's face paled and then flushed.

“No!” Deconniy cried. “I could never- I would never insult Her Highness in such a fashion. I-” He went silent as Innisth raised a hand.

“Hold, Captain. I did not mean forever. But for a night? Did she speak truly?”

“I am your man, Majesty, in all things,” said the captain. He did not meet Innisth's eyes. Eänetaìsarè was pleased as the show of submission. Innisth was not.

“That is not an answer, Captain.” He sighed irritably. “Do you wish to leave my service?”

“No, Majesty!” Deconniy's head whipped up. He met Innisth's gaze. “Never. I wish only to be as I said: your man, in all things.” He faltered a moment, and added. “If you will have me.”

“Before, you offered yourself as a sacrifice,” Innisth said. “Is this some further penance? Do you think I will not have you in my household if I cannot also have you in this way? Do you think so little of me?” He did not usually press this hard, but in light of their past, he had to be sure. No matter how tempting Deconniy was, no matter what his wife and Caèr said, he needed to know he was not betraying his own principles. 

“Majesty!” The young captain became upset at Innisth's hard tone. “It is none of those things, believe me. I know your stance on such matters. The desire is mine, and mine alone.” He bowed, lower than necessary. “Please do not send me from your service.” 

“Peace, Captain.” Innisth placed a hand under Deconniy's chin and raised him up. “I will not send you away. I only wished to be sure; you cannot blame me.” He looked into Deconniy's eyes. “Now. Tell me plain: what is it you desire from me?”

Deconniy straightened and took a breath.

“I wish to be yours, Majesty, in any way you will have me. Including matters of intimacy.”

Innisth smiled. Eänetaìsarè rose again in him, and he held it back. Just a little longer, he assured it.

“Then follow me,” he said, and led the way into his bedroom.

–

In the bedroom, Innisth turned to face his young captain. 

“This is your final chance,” he said. He gestured at a side table, upon which he had arranged some of the various tools he had enjoyed with Caèr in the past. He would not employ them all, but Deconniy would not know that when he gave his final answer.

Deconniy looked at the instruments, his gaze lingering first on a silver knife, then on a heavy crop. Then he looked at Innisth.

“I submit myself to you, Majesty.” The words were deliberate, and this time, when Innisth's Power surged in him, he let it come, let it fill the room with its hunger and press against them both.

“Strip, Verè,” he ordered. His sharp eyes did not miss how Deconniy shuddered at the use of his given name.

With a soldier's efficiency, Deconniy divested himself of his clothing. He folded each item neatly and placed it to the side. Innisth smiled, a wolf's smile, and looked his captain over. He was pleased to see Deconniy's cock had started to swell. Innisth stepped forward, a hair's breadth from Deconniy. Carefully, he traced the man's cheek, down the strong line of his jaw, to press against the pulse in his neck. It was rapid, and Deconniy's eyes were dark and wanting as they looked at him. Innisth placed a quick, biting kiss to his mouth, and stepped back.

“Kneel.”

Deconniy dropped to his knees with pleasing quickness.

“Close your eyes.”

Innisth wandered over to the side table. Violent pleasures had their place, but they were not what Eänetaìsarè was craving this day. Deconniy had submitted to him, and it was with that thought that Innisth selected the silver knife.

“Remain still,” he ordered, and ran the flat of the blade up across Deconniy's collarbone. Deconniy sucked in a breath. “I may not be an expert in the sword, but I can handle a knife. If you stay still, all will be well. If you move, I may cut you. And if I cut you, I will be displeased. It is a game of trust.” He paused, the knife against the man's bicep. “Understood?”

“Understood,” breathed Deconniy. Innisth smiled.

He stood behind Deconniy, tracing the lines of the muscles in his upper back and arms, his shoulders, his neck. He ran the blade around his jaw, his ears, across his cheekbones. Sometimes he used the flat, sometimes the edge or the tip, his touches feather-light. Deconniy stayed perfectly still, save for his breath, which was shallow and uneven.

After Innisth exhausted the landscape of Deconniy's upper body, he knelt too, allowing Deconniy to feel his breath across the back of his neck. The captain let out a small moan, quickly stifled.

“Good,” Innisth whispered. He dragged the tip of the knife from the top of Deconniy's spine to the small of his back. He played with the idea of moving it lower, seeing if Decconiy could keep so still with a knife at a more sensitive area, then dragged the knife back up. Another time, perhaps; no need to risk needless unpleasantness. 

As he leaned in to trace a line down the captain's torso, Innisth noticed Deconniy was now fully hard. Excellent. He paused a moment, the flat of the blade hovering above the wet tip of Deconniy's cock, then drew it to the side to trace along Deconniy's hip instead. Deconniy swallowed down another sound, the strain of keeping still plain on his face. Whether he wished to move into the knife or away from it, Innisth didn't know.

It was as he drew the knife tip up the captain's strong thigh that it happened. A muscle spasmed, causing the knife to nick the skin. Both Deconniy and Innisth froze. Innisth watched as blood welled up from the cut and trickled slowly down. He glanced at Deconniy's face; the man's eyes were scrunched close, and he had caught his bottom lip between his teeth. A quick look at his cock showed that the pain had not lessened his arousal.

“Ah. It was bound to happen,” Innisth murmured. “You did well to last this long. I am not displeased. At ease, Captain.”

Deconniy sagged, his thighs trembling. Innisth ran a hand over his head, as he would pet a dog.

“On the bed now,” said Innisth. “Hands and knees.” 

Deconniy nodded, quickly moving to the large bed. Innisth took a moment to admire Deconniy's physique, and another to appreciate the sight of the captain's firm backside so enticingly presented. He undid his breeches enough to let his cock free, and reached for the small jar of oil on the side table to slick himself. Not too much, but enough that he would not cause his captain any undue damage.

He positioned himself behind Deconniy and raked his nails up the backs of the captain's bare thighs, leaving streaks of livid white that quickly flushed deep pink. Deconniy hissed and shifted back. Innisth struck his flank. Then, unwilling to wait any longer, he pushed into Deconniy.

The two men groaned. Innisth fucked into Deconniy with short, rough strokes. His hands gripped Deconniy's hips with bruising force, and Eänetaìsarè purred in approval as Deconniy opened up under him. Innisth kept up a steady pace, and leaned forward to mouth at his partner's shoulders with bites more like a wolf's than a lover's. Deconniy trembled and moaned; his breath came in sharp pants and he pressed back to meet Innisth's thrusts.

The heat built inside Innisth, and he could tell Deconniy was close. He reached between Deconniy's legs, bypassing his cock, and found the cut he had made earlier. He thrust once more into the captain and jabbed a finger into the cut, reopening it.

Deconniy came with a sharp cry. Shuddering, he collapsed onto his forearms. Innisth hummed with pleasure at the feeling of Deconniy clenching around him, and with a few more hard thrusts, reached his own completion.

“Well, Captain,” said Innisth. “Are you satisfied?”

Deconniy grinned at him, a wolf's smile of his own.

“Hardly, Majesty.”

**Author's Note:**

> Coda, just for fun:
> 
> "If you wish further encounters, you'd best speak with my wife and Caèr," remarked Innisth, as Decconiy got dressed. "I am fairly certain no one, myself included, is allowed access to my bedchambers without their say-so"


End file.
